Beautiful Goodbye
by Invisible Rain
Summary: That fateful goodbye has come for Kagome, but why would she leave knowing Kikyo is dead and Inu Yasha is hers for the taking? "Inu Yasha and I… we weren’t like that. We could never be like that. That was why I had to say goodbye." Inu YashaxKagome


Disclaimer: Bleh… *Disclaims*

Normal font like so… is from the narrators point of view.

***… Signify the end of a scene etc..

…. Is the end of the song phrase.

**Bold means that a period of time has passed, backwards or forwards. Just read it.**

Beautiful Goodbye 

Fed up with my destiny

And this place of no return…

            Kagome looked behind herself and stared with contented eyes towards the one who would always hold her heart.  She gave him a tiny smile as her eyes trailed down to the young fox demon that had become her family and to the demon hunter who had become her dearest friend.  Lastly her eyes met those of the lecherous monk, her mentor in the ways of the heart.  His hands may have been known to wander, but his heart was firmly set upon one woman alone.  Kagome could only wish them happiness and a good life together.  As she looked back to Inu Yasha, she knew that this was indeed 'Goodbye'.

            His eyes were empty, and yet they were somewhat disturbed.  He knew her reasons for leaving; he had been a part of it.  It was simply torture for her to live on as a memory of another in his heart.  Kagome had her own life to live, not Kikyo's.  Now was the time to move on and away from this memory.  Naraku was gone, not dead, but gone. No trace of him existed anywhere.  He had been purified from the timeline of all.  Things here had come to an end.

Think I'll take another day

And slowly watch it burn…

            Something inside of Kagome tugged at her to stay and share her life with her friends of the past.  However, as much as her heart desired to stay, it also greatly needed to be given a sense of peace.

It doesn't really matter how the time goes by…

            The days would continue on without her there, just as each one had passed in her own time when she was not there.  She knew Inu Yasha would be okay.  He had told her the night before, when they had exchanged their farewells.  It was all in his eyes; those amber eyes.

**The night before…(Kagome's Point Of View).**

Cause I still remember you and I 

And that beautiful goodbye…

            "Inu Yasha!" I walked through the forest trying to find him.  Twigs snapped and small animals rustled on the ground in a scurried manner. It was sort of unnerving.  It was if the life of the forest was held in suspension.

            "Kagome?" Inu Yasha stepped out from behind a tree and I nearly choked in surprise.  He had said my name so delicately... he'd only ever said it like that… well it was just very rare.

            "Inu Yasha, I'm going home tomorrow… And I wanted to apologize first." Those words sounded so wrong to me.  I was breaking my greatest promise to him and all I could hope for was no yelling.  I never expected forgiveness.

            Inu Yasha didn't really respond at first.  He just paused before me, looked at me hesitantly.  A brief moment passed before he stepped quickly towards me and picked me up bridal style.  He held me close to his chest as if he was trying to protect me one last time.  The suddenly his feet were moving before I even had a chance to protest, though in truth I wanted time to stop and let me cherish this moment forever.  I was being held in Inu Yasha's arms for the sake of being held…

We staggered through these empty streets

Laughing on love

The night had a made a mess of me…

            My hair whipped everywhere, and I couldn't help but contain my excitement. Moving like that, it was like being one with the wind.  And being that close to him... it was almost too much to bear.  I could feel my whole body lighten up with tingling sensations as I became more aware of my body being molded to his and the whirlwind of darkness that surrounded us.  It almost felt like one of those cliché moments where two lovers truly became one in a spiritual sense.  But Inu Yasha and I… we weren't like that.  We could never be like that….  That was why I had to say goodbye.

            "Inu Yasha, we have to stop." My voice had been so small, but he had stopped almost immediately.  Oddly enough we had ended up right on the edge of the forest facing the village.  He let me down gently and I took a step back.  I took a deep breath, knowing my words would be hard to say.

            "Kagome!" Inu Yasha spoke up before I could even stutter my first word.  He held his head down at first, but snapped it back up right away.  His eyes… it felt like I was naked before him. It was so cold that night.  I knew what those eyes were saying.  I almost begged him not to tell me.  But I had to know.  I couldn't go on with my life, unless I knew for sure that I actually meant something to him, that I had a place, however small, in his heart somewhere; a place to call my own.

            "Kagome…I… I thought…I've been thinking…" Inu Yasha never really was one for words.

Your confession kept me warm…

            "Shh… What's done is done ne?  I made a promise to you, and I'm breaking it… I've been thinking too Inu Yasha."  I laid back on the soft grass to stare up at the stars, rather than his eyes. "I know… how you feel, and that's why I have to leave.  It's almost odd isn't it?  I had decided to stay here before, no matter what.  But that was then… that was when Kikyo was alive.  I'm not too sure what changed after her death.  Maybe it was how you still held on to her… But either way, something woke up inside of me.   Naraku called it the darkness of my heart."  My eyes had begun to water and Inu Yasha still had not tried to interrupt me.  He just watched with those eyes.  "I don't like that part of me Inu Yasha.  I hate it.  In that sense Kikyo and I are very much alike I suppose." I could help but snort at this, who would have thought? "I don't like this horrible feeling inside of me…  Inu Yasha you know how I feel, that will never change.  But I can't go on living with hate being a part of my love for you."  Tears had begun to flow at this point, straight down my reddened face. 

            I felt his fingers as they brushed my tears, and I nearly jerked away.  His touch was so gentle… just like his eyes.  I had expected him to look on me with disgust.  His eyes held nothing even akin to disgust, but something very much like understanding.  He simply looked into my eyes and nodded.

            "Kagome, sayonara."  And there he left me.  My eyes had dried up and my heart had been left with the memory of his understanding amber eyes.

Present Time…(Now) 

I gave a final smiling farewell and before I could start crying like Sango and Shippo, I jumped over to the other side of the well, gently clasping the shikon jewel around my neck.

**3 Years Later. (Narrator's Point Of View)**

And I don't really miss you; I just need to know,

Do you ever think of you and I?

And that beautiful goodbye…

            There were days that Kagome thought of nothing but Inu Yasha.  She couldn't help it.  She most certainly didn't miss him, and if she did, it was only in a physical sense.  Other than that... How could she miss someone who lived on in her heart?

            Of al her thoughts of him… they always ended with their final moments together.  Did he remember?

            She used to keep an eye out for him, hoping that with his youkai blood he would have lived though the times.  But there was no way to be certain about that.  She had never seen a youkai, nevertheless a hanyou walking amongst the people of today.

            Not until her graduation… when she saw that one flash of red.

***

When I see you know

I wonder how

I could've watched you walk away…

            I held on tightly to my diploma, pride swelling inside of me.  I wanted to burst into tears.  It was one of the happiest moments of my life and all I could think of was how much I wanted Inu Yasha to be there.  I wanted to share my moment of triumph with him.  But I could never do, right?

            Kagome stared determinedly out into the audience, first at her mother, and then at everyone else.  Her eyes roamed across the nameless faces.  Until they fell upon two eyes… two familiar eyes.  Kagome took a moment to blink, and then looked again only to see a streak of red flow into the rest of the people.

            Someone shoved her forward from behind and she blinked away the tears that had been building up in her eyes.  She quickly assured herself that it had been her blurry vision, and her subconscious desires that made her see that... that made her think that.  Inu Yasha couldn't be here could he?

            Kagome swiftly made her exit off the stage as the ceremony ended and made her way to her family. With a quick hug and kiss, Kagome was off.  She was supposed to meet her friends at the airport for a trip they were taking to the hot springs, but she felt compelled to go talk to him one more time.

***

            Kagome had made it part of her routine to visit the well once a month and talk to Inu Yasha.  She usually started off with petty things, but as time went on she began to talk about her feelings.  Then things had started to get busy… and talking to the well just seemed like too much.  She had put talking to the well on hold for a while so she could have some time to sort out what she really wanted to say.  It was hard to put into words… but something about those eyes… she was beginning to understand, and today something inside of her heart had just clicked.  It only took that small reminder of Inu Yasha to shatter her pathetic resolve.

            All those years she had been without him, only left with a memory of the heart.  That desire to be with him and love him like no one else… Nothing could be wrong in that.  She had spent three years mulling over her feelings with a toothpick, wondering how she could go wrong in loving him.  And now she just knew, she had only been mistaken in believing her love for him was wrong.

***

            Kagome made her way to the well house with her tears now freely streaming down her face.  She felt glad to spend her last few hours at home in the quiet presence of the well.  It was her last connection to Inu Yasha besides the Goshinboku and the Shikon jewel.

            She slid the door open quietly and shut it behind her as she stared down towards the well.

            "Hello Inu Yasha, I haven't been here in months… I guess you could say it sort of became creepy to come here.  I never knew really what to say and it was like talking to a gravestone. As if you were dead… I can't think like that though can I?  I'm sure you lived a happy life…" Kagome choke on her words and wiped away her tears.

If I let you down

Please forgive me now

For that beautiful goodbye…

            Taking a deep breath, Kagome continued on.  "Every time I come here… I always say I'm sorry.  And I really am… I really screwed up didn't I?  I thought...my love for you was wrong… that my hate corrupted it.  But I'm just human right?  You knew too…" She whispered the last part. "After all you had been through with Kikyo, you understood what it was to be human…" Kagome let her head fall down and gripped her left elbow with her right hand.  This would be the final time she would speak to him through the well, and it was incredibly difficult to accept this.  

            "Arigato Inu Yasha…" Kagome turned around to open the door and leave to meet her friends.

And I just can't help but wonder why

We let it pass us by…

            Kagome opened the door, and with her head bent down, went to put her first step forward out the door.  Only she hit something…soft.  Before she could realize it, two arms had encompassed her in a tight embrace while all she could see was red.

When I see you now

I wonder how

I could've watched you walk away

If I let you down

Please forgive me now

For that beautiful goodbye…

            "You're welcome Kagome…" Amber eyes gazed lovingly down to Kagome.  He had waited five centuries, plus some odd number of years.  He had watched her come home after their adventures each time.  And he had watched her come home for the final time with the Shikon jewel around her neck and tears slipping down her face.  He had watched it all while hope lived on in his heart.

            Kagome, in a sense had never truly rejected him and to this he had held on to.  He had listened every time she spoke to the well and he had heard her heart felt sorrow for leaving him.  But Inu Yasha had waited, until the day she realized, just like he had once long ago.  That is was human to love and hate at the same time.  He had both loved and hated Kikyo for the longest time.  And then those feelings evolved into a sense of peace.  It took him a fairly long time to reach his own sense of tranquility, and he could only give Kagome the same opportunity.  He wanted to share his love when she could be sure that she could share hers and not feel guilty.  Now was that time.

            "It was you who showed me I was human and youkai… and how to feel."  Inu Yasha murmured into her hair.  Kagome made an attempt to mumble something back, while still sorting out what had just occurred. "No more thinking… You're mine now. Love, hate, and all."

            Love was a complicated thing to begin with, and girls, well they always seem to make it more complicated than it already is.  Inu Yasha had made it through that; he waited through centuries because of it.  This time he didn't give her a chance to speak and start the whole mess up again.  She had been given her time, she understood now; it was as simple as that.  (In his mind at least, and truthfully, that was all that mattered.)

            Inu Yasha didn't wait any longer as he claimed her lips with his own.  Kagome could be as surprised as she wanted to be… he'd deal with that after.

New Author's Note: Okay… I didn't really revise this entirely. But I was bored tonight and I re-read it… and dam.. I didn't know I had mad THAT many errors.  I felt like slapping myself…  I'm still keeping this as a one-shot; so don't go thinking I'm going to write more. I have to finish a whole lot more before I even consider continuing this or elaborating what happened… since a lot of time did pass x.x'

Original Author's Note: Look… Isn't that nice. Garbled to all hell but nice right?  At least I hope it was… I've been dying to write this @.@ Just to get it out of my head at least.. Anyways it was a one-shot song fic.  The song is Beautiful Goodbye by Amanda Marshall. Lovely song. I had it on repeat… and well this came out.  I left a few lyrics… a line or two ~.~' But oh well.. 

Any error I apologize for, I didn't really edit it x_x'

Now of course you're going to review… I need something for my pathetic ego x_x'

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